VULNERABILITY OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ON THE HEALTH & WELL-BEING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE (AGTA) IN SITIO MAPATONG

The Philippines is one of the countries in Asia with a wide number of Indigenous people. In this study on Indigenous people, it reveals the vulnerability of the socio-economic environment its impact on their health and well-being. This study comprised of seventy-five (75) Indigenous people (Agta) from Sitio Mapatong, Brgy. Sto. Tomas, Tagkawayan, Quezon. It was a descriptive design, and purposive sampling was used. The question that frames this study are: what is the demographic profile of the Bihog (Agta) in Tagkawayan, Quezon in terms of: age, sex, civil status, educational attainment, job description, and dialect; how do the respondents perceive the vulnerability of the socio-economic environment in terms of: social interaction, education, health services, family orientation, source of living, human capital, raw materials, inflation, and technological advancement; what is the perceive health and well-being of the respondents in terms of: physical health, mental health, emotional well-being and economic well-being; are the vulnerability of the socio-economic environment factors significantly related to the health and well-being of the Agtas? The following were significant findings of the study: The demographic profile of the Bihog (Agta) respondents in Tagkawayan, Quezon are the following: Age under 11-15 years, 16-20 years old, and 26-30 years old got the highest percentage of 17.3%. In terms of sex, male got 52% and female with 48%. Civil Status, 31.9% were married, 1.3% widowed, and 66.7% single. Educational attainment, 80% didn’t able to go to school, 17.1% elementary level, 1.3% elementary graduate, and 1.3% ALS graduate. Job description, mining (kabod) 48%, mining, charcoal burner 2.7%, and mining, coconut harvester with 49.3%. Dialect, tagalog, bikol, manedi have 84%, tagalog, manedi 14.7%, tagalog, bikol with 1.3%. The perceive vulnerability of the socio-economic environment in social is ‘agree’ in terms of social interaction (4.30%), education (3.82%), health services (3.98%), family orientation (3.98%), and economic factor with source of living (4.09%), human capital (3.94%), raw materials (3.77%), inflation (3.66%), technological advancement (3.90%) were also agreed. The perceive health and well-being of the Agta are the following: Physical health got 3.78%, mental health with 3.73%, emotional well-being have 3.85%, economic well-being with 3.92, all have a verbal interpretation of agree. Results show that there is a significant relationship to socio-economic environment (social and economic factor) and its health and well-being in terms of physical health, mental health, emotional well-being, and economic well-being. Indigenous people (Agta) may continue to cope, adapt, and adjust to the new normal in the face of a pandemic, which can improve their socioeconomic environment and help with their physical health, mental health, emotional well-being, and economic wellbeing. A similar study may be conducted to know more about the vulnerability of the socio-economic environment impact on the health and well-being among Indigenous people.